The good times roll Re "Nightclubs having a whale of a time," Oct. 15 My soon-to-be-former bank grudgingly shells out less than 1% interest on my savings account but would gleefully charge me 15% if I couldn't pay the full balance on my credit card. Meanwhile, banker and serial partyer An Pham Jr. throws away thousands of dollars in a single evening entertaining some kick boxer so he won't have to stand in line to buy a drink. And people are questioning the motivation behind the Occupy Wall Street movement?

July 10, 1995 | PHILIP N. DIEHL, Philip N. Diehl is director of the U.S. Mint

Legislation and budget measures now before Congress would abolish the dollar bill and require the Treasury Department to mint a new dollar coin. The goal is to force Americans to accept a coin they don't want in the name of cost savings that will never materialize. The result will be an immense expense and the third dollar coin to fail in the past 25 years. Americans simply don't want a dollar coin. Since the 1970s, they've rejected the Eisenhower dollar and the Susan B.

Hoping to encourage the use of a much-criticized form of currency, the U.S. Mint on Monday unveiled a series of $1 coins honoring U.S. presidents. The first coin, with the same iconic portrait of George Washington that appears on the dollar bill, will enter circulation early next year. Subsequent coins, commemorating the presidents in the order they served, will be released every three months; Washington will be followed in 2007 by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

President Clinton has approved what will be the first alteration in America's circulating coins in two decades. He signed legislation providing a new gold-colored dollar coin that will replace coins bearing the portrait of suffragist Susan B. Anthony. The government will continue printing dollar bills. The Treasury secretary will decide whether the new dollar coin will depict the Statue of Liberty or an actual woman or women of historical importance.

Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins -- Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent and the Last of the Cocked Hats. The U.S. Mint, maker of the nation's coins, today will unveil the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year.

A dollar bill is of little use when you need coins to feed a parking meter, use a vending machine or make a phone call. Mass transit agencies could save loads of money if they did not have to sort the paper currency that many riders use to pay fares. Maybe it's time to take another look at using a coin in place of the dollar bill. We can hear you groaning. Sure, everybody wants to forget--and almost has--the disastrous Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, introduced in 1979.

The busiest subway stop in downtown Washington was until recently festooned with green banners and billboards warning of a terrible danger. One of America's great national symbols is under attack: the one-dollar bill. A few unpatriotic senators want to phase out the dollar bill and replace it with a dollar coin. Several previous attempts to do this have foundered on people's fondness for paper money. In the subway ad campaign, riders are importuned to sign an online petition and go to a website for more information, which of course I did, since I always follow orders from billboards.

Coming soon on new presidential dollar coins: Old Hickory, Old Kinderhook, Old Man Eloquent and the Last of the Cocked Hats. The U.S. Mint, the maker of the nation's coins, today is unveiling the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year.

With all the interest in having Ronald Reagan on our money, why not kill two birds with a single stone. The mint has tried three times to introduce a practical dollar coin, only to have it fail to gain public usage. How about we replace Sacajawea with Reagan's friendly grin. It would help to stop printing paper ones. This has always evoked a hue and cry, but the idea of a pocketful of smiling "Ronnies" might just turn the trick. Ken Pinkham San Juan Capistrano Let's get over the rash hysteria of suggesting changes of names on buildings, places and money to "Ronald Reagan."

Mary and Ray Smith can't make heads or tails of a new presidential dollar coin they found. It doesn't have either. A week after the revelation that some coins slipped out of the U.S. Mint without "In God We Trust" stamped on the edge, the Smiths said in Fort Collins that they found one with nothing stamped on either side. It does have "In God We Trust" on the edge. What's missing is the image of George Washington on the front and the Statue of Liberty on the back.